Yuma Sun

AP source: Pirates are calling up top pitching prospect Skenes for his debut

- BY WILL GRAVES

PITTSBURGH – The Paul Skenes era is ready to begin in Pittsburgh.

The top pick in last year’s amateur draft will make his major league debut for the Pirates on Saturday when they face the Cubs, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the Pirates hadn’t explicitly announced the promotion, although the club did send out a hype video of Skenes with “5.11.24.”

The 21-year-old, taken with the first pick last summer following a couple of standout years at LSU, has dominated opponents at Triple-a Indianapol­is. Skenes, whose fastball regularly

hits triple digits, is 0-0 with a 0.99 ERA in seven Triple-a starts, with 45 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings.

He is considered among baseball’s top prospects and comes with unusual star power for a baseball rookie, in part because of his relationsh­ip with LSU gymnast and social media influencer Livvy Dunne.

The Pirates have brought Skenes along slowly during the spring, methodical­ly ramping up his pitch count at Triple-a. They have given him a little more latitude recently. He threw 75 pitches on April 30 and 66 on Sunday against Buffalo.

Skenes joins a rotation that includes 22-year-old rookie Jared Jones, who has a 2.63 ERA through seven starts and whose 52 strikeouts were ninth in the majors entering Wednesday.

Pittsburgh has floundered of late following a strong start. The Pirates, who are off Thursday, are 6-16 over their last 22 games after falling to the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Wednesday.

Skenes’ arrival represents a significan­t milepost for the organizati­on. General manager Ben Cherington has overseen a topto-bottom

overhaul since taking over in the fall of 2019. Some of the pieces he has acquired and/or developed since his arrival either are on the major league roster (Jones) or on the cusp.

It also starts the clock on Pittsburgh’s hopeful return to contention. The Pirates finished last in the NL Central from 2019-22 before taking a step forward last season. The expectatio­n internally is for the competitiv­e window to open either this year or next. Skenes could have an outsized impact on the timeline.

Skenes’ debut figures to be the most anticipate­d by a major league pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg arrived in the majors with Washington in 2009 and promptly struck out 14 Pirates players in his first start.

The last Pittsburgh pitcher to reach the majors with this much hype came in 2013 when Gerrit Cole – a first-round pick in 2011 – joined a team that ended a streak of 20 consecutiv­e losing seasons. Cole was a fixture in a rotation that helped the Pirates reach the playoffs from 2013-15 before ultimately being traded to Houston in January 2018.

 ?? GERALD HERBERT/AP ?? PITTSBURGH PIRATES PITCHER PAUL SKENES throws in the fourth inning of a spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte, Fla., on March 4.
GERALD HERBERT/AP PITTSBURGH PIRATES PITCHER PAUL SKENES throws in the fourth inning of a spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte, Fla., on March 4.

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